Sitting on the stool after the third round of his fight with Eddie Alvarez, Bellator lightweight Michael Chandler was in a bad way.

He had gone after the win in the most vicious manner possible, dropping Alvarez in the first 20 seconds of the fight and then again later in the round, and still the Bellator champ was staring across from him on an opposing stool.

He had prepared for this moment, but maybe not for its reality. Alvarez had battered him with a barrage of punches that left his face a bloody mess just halfway through the championship fight, which took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Fla., for Bellator 58.

Commentators speculated he had taken a nasty body shot and may be soon to expire. Chandler can’t remember exactly what it was, but admitted he looked bad was “a step or two behind.”

If not for the words of his boxing trainer, Xtreme Couture’s Gil Martinez, Chandler might have lost the fight right there as momentum hung in the balance. But somehow, the right words came and he went back to work in the fourth round.

It was then that the pendulum swung rapidly from champion to challenger. Chandler rocked Alvarez with a jab right off the bat, then went on to swarm with punches and leap on Alvarez’s back to cinch a choke and force a tap.

Eight fights into his professional career, Chandler beat the man many say is the best lightweight outside of the UFC to take the Bellator lightweight title. The cursive tattoo reading “blessed” could not be more appropriate after a back-and-forth fight, one that went toe-to-toe with a gonzo headliner between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 139. A shoo-in candidate for “Fight of the Year.”

Reflecting today on the huge win, Chandler, who spoke from St. Petersburg, Fla., while spending time with family, said the pep talk changed the course of the bout.

“We have something special as a fighter/coach relationship,” Chandler told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I just really am so confident in him in every word he says, and he knows exactly what to say to me. I can’t explain it. It just works.”

The veteran trainer was there when Alvarez refused to shake Chandler’s hand at the weigh-ins. Martinez told Chandler that Alvarez was worried or trying to get in his head and not to worry about it.

“He was just caught up in it,” Chandler said of Alvarez. “He’s a competitor; he doesn’t like to lose. He doesn’t like anybody standing in front of him. I can’t expect him to like me.”

Chandler said the same goes for where he fits in the rankings now that he’s thrown a wrench into the lightweight rankings. He understands that some fans might be a little reluctant to see his win this past Saturday as much more than a temporary misstep for Alvarez.

In the Seminole Hard Rock Live, the sound of Alvarez’s extremely vocal fans at times drowned out cheers for the fight.

“Eddie definitely established himself and worked his way up in there,” Chandler said. “I don’t necessarily think beating Eddie deserves me getting in the top-10 or top-whatever. Whatever people think, the people think. All I can worry about is me getting better. I promise I’m going to exceed their expectations.”

Chandler will now likely welcome the winner of Bellator’s season-six lightweight tournament sometime in 2012. If Alvarez decides to participate, he’ll be forced to fight his way to a rematch through an eight-man field that’s the signature format of the promotion.

The 25-year-old Chandler will undoubtedly meet any incoming threat with the help of Martinez, whom he began working with at the start of his Bellator career 14 months ago.

Martinez said he knew Chandler would be a champion when they began working together in Las Vegas. Chandler’s girlfriend was scheduled to come into town on a day they weren’t training. Martinez said he asked Chandler to work on a few things not knowing the fighter’s schedule.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I’m more interested in being a fighter than being a boyfriend right now,'” Martinez told MMAjunkie.com. “He just showed everything. All his skills came together. Everything about Michael says champion.”

Chandler had never before been through such a grueling fight. He was forced to dig deep on that stool, and he bled generously for his gold. But he’s glad that he had such a guide in Martinez, and got to see what he is made of.

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